Newcastle SMASH Sunderland in the FA Cup

A Bruno Guimaraes strike with the outside of his boot was heading for the far corner before coming off both of Dan Ballard’s hands.

And when Ballard sent Alexander Isak sprawling when the striker when clean through, it looked a clear foul on the TV replays – if maybe ever-so-slightly just outside the box.

Both of these incidents occurred before the bungling Ballard sliced the opener into his own net and then slammed into Anthony Gordon to give away the late penalty that Isak notched comfortably for the third.

But it was refreshing not to have the game halted for five minutes while the officials checked the monitors.

Newcastle SMASH Sunderland in the FA Cup - Is it time to bin VAR?

The constant stop-start nature of the game in the top flight is killing spontaneity and excitement and when you add in the fact that some woeful mistakes are still being made by the officials despite the technology, it’s surely time to consider dumping the VAR experiment in the dustbin of history.

Joelinton might point to a push in the back that led to him coming off the field as another one missed by the men in black.

When offsides are being called by lines that don’t make sense, when it’s unclear whether the ball has actually crossed the line or not and when a blatant handball like the one committed by Celtic against Rangers the other week are going unpunished then it is becoming increasingly difficult for those in charge of the rules of the game to justify VAR.

Let’s just pack it in and get on with playing the game like the Toon did at the Stadium of Light and at every other FA Cup tie this weekend.

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It is helping to bring back a sense of excitement to the famous old competition which has felt a bit flat for years.

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